ly. Women could be cruel, as his mother had often
warned him. He thought of his mother's last year in the hospital and
winced. She had sacrificed so much for him; and yet, was it really
better to be a free bachelor than an old family man like Charley?
There wasn't anything the matter with Alice that he could see. Charley
loved her; that was plain.

Tonight should solve the thing, once and for all. He left the plant,
speaking to everyone he met as he usually did. Then he sneaked back
in, with the guard's help, and hid in his own office with the lights
out.

His phone rang and he almost answered it before he remembered that he
was supposed to be gone. The building was by no means deserted;
probably there was someone working overtime in more than one
department, though the main business for the day was finished. After a
bit, the phone rang again, and he ignored it.

Waiting was hard. He couldn't read, so he let his mind wander: the
next modification to ICWEA--what a romantic old thing she was! He
needed a haircut: he'd have to get one tomorrow, before the hair grew
down over his ears. What a voice that girl had--and those eyes! Would
they get further work from Mugu? How could they contact other
Government agencies? ICWEA was working out pretty good; would it be
better to try to sell ICWEAs to anyone who wanted them, or to keep the
old girl busy and work problems for others? Eventually, the former,
though for the time being it might be better to continue as they were
until the old girl was well known. Under present conditions, that
shouldn't take--what was that hissing noise, a radiator?

He listened closely. Hiss, hiss, hiss. No, it was a rubbing sound,
with a scrape and an occasional hollow thump. Not loud, but close at
hand. The ventilating system--how obvious, now! He watched a white
hand disengage the catches and carefully lower the grill to his desk.
A small figure in white cover-alls wormed its way out of the opening,
landed on its hands on top of his desk, kicked feet clear and
cartwheeled to the floor with disdainful ease. A head-shake settled a
long bob in place; who could do that? Virginia Hermosa, and no one
else!

She couldn't see him against the shine of the window. She turned ICWEA
on and let her warm up, meanwhile fastening a large sheet of paper on
the bed of the curve-tracer with tape. She put a blank card in the
punching head, opened the door of the patching-panel cabinet and
rearranged the patch-c